2A — Thursday, March 19, 2020
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Represent
Michigan
joined the race for the
University of Michigan
Central
Student
Government
(CSG)
election
taking
place
next
Wednesday
and
Thursday. The party is
putting forth a slate of
endorsed candidates —
without
an
executive
ticket — to vie for seats in
the Assembly.
In an interview with
The Daily, Engineering
sophomore
Carla
Voigt,
a
current
CSG
representative
who
serves
as
Represent’s
campaign manager and is
running for re-election,
said she first looked at
each of the other parties
running in the election —
Mobilize and Change At
Michigan — but felt they
were not going to make
the impact she wanted
CSG to make. She said
Represent was formed
because neither of the
other parties showed her
they wanted to make a
difference.
“We’re
going
to
differentiate
ourselves
from
the
other
two
parties because they are
saying that they are going
to change things and that
it’s going to be different,”
Voigt said. “But I really
was never shown that it
is going to be different.
And I want it to be. So we
devised our own way.”
Represent’s
platform
includes
affordability
and accessibility; sexual
assault
prevention;
diversity,
equity
and
inclusion;
mental
health
awareness;
and
sustainability.
There
are also platform points
specifically
targeted
toward
bettering
the
lives of certain groups
on
campus,
such
as
international students or
renters.
However,
while
all
of
the
parties’
goals
are
similar,
Engineering
senior
Mario Galindez, deputy
campaign manager, said
Represent’s
platform
stands out because of its
achievability.
Galindez
said that instead of using
buzzwords or creating
five-year plans, as he
said he has seen CSG do
in the past, Represent’s
platform
includes
tangible
methods
to
efficiently
enact
the
change they want to see.
“For us, it’s about the
direct impact to students
instead
of
general
advocacy for ‘change,’”
Galindez said.
The election will take
place online on March
25-26. With Represent’s
announcement, the party
becomes the third to
enter to race for seats on
the Assembly.
LSA sophomore Sam
Braden, who is running
for
re-election
as
an
LSA representative, said
in
previous
elections,
representatives
campaigned
for
their
party’s
presidential
and
vice-presidential
candidates.
However,
because
Represent
is not putting up an
executive ticket, Braden
said their campaign is
focused more closely on
developing
plans
with
their representatives that
will make a noticeable
difference in the lives of
students.
An amendment CSG
passed
in
February
requires the separation
of
the
executive
ticket and the slate of
representatives endorsed
by a party. Additionally,
the
amendment
also
declared there will be no
party affiliations next to
the names of candidates
on the ballot.
Braden
said
even
without
this
change,
the party would not be
hindered
by
running
without
an
executive
ticket.
Voigt
noted
they still have the slate
propping up what would
have been the executive
ticket,
but
they
are
promoting
the
party
rather than two specific
candidates.
To find representatives,
Braden said they looked
through
Maize
Pages
and newspaper articles
to
find
people
who
were
enacting
change
across
campus
and
encouraged them to run
for representative seats.
Braden said he did this so
activists on campus can
use CSG’s resources to
elevate their ideas.
“There are people on
campus who don’t get
engaged with CSG, who
are doing positive work
and could use our million
dollar budget that we
wanted to engage via
CSG and give them an
opportunity,”
Braden
said. “Something I like
about Represent is that
we weren’t like, ‘We’re a
party, come apply to us’
… We found people who
are making a concrete
change on campus and
then we wanted to give
them a boost.”
Voigt
said
she
is
hopeful CSG can move
toward acting as a vehicle
for improving students’
lives. She said she is
optimistic
about
CSG
because of its potential to
advocate for students but
has been disappointed
by the lack of impact
the
organization
has
previously had.
“The current culture
is just so one of just
stagnant non-progress,”
Voigt said. ”People are
outcasts
when
they’re
trying to do things, when
it’s like, we’re supposed
to be trying to do things.”
Braden
said
there
have
been
previous
efforts carried out by
CSG,
such
as
giving
students free donuts, so
students
“know
what
CSG is doing.” While he
said these efforts are
somewhat beneficial, he
would like students to
know what CSG is doing
because they are doing
things that improve life
for people on campus.
Braden said Represent
aims to do just that.
“We should be doing
things for students that
they know about because
it affects them,” Braden
said. “If we need to tell
you what we’re doing,
there’s a problem. If we
aren’t
affecting
your
lives, we aren’t doing our
jobs.”
Daily News Editor Alex
Harring can be reached at
harring@umich.edu.
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ALICE LIU/Daily
Despite campus encouraging everyone to return to their permanent residence, students continue to visit Nichols Arboretum Wednesday afternoon.
Represent joins CSG race
without executive ticket
New party to challenge Mobilize, Change At Michigan for seats in
upcoming Central Student Government elections on March 25-26